Fly Me to the Moon
by DigiFruit
Summary: Ino gets into a fight with her parents and runs away from home. She decides to crash at Naruto’s place for the time being, since he’s the only one with a place of his own. Sakura, however, does not approve.


**Fly Me to the Moon  
**A Naruto OneShot  
By DigiFruit

Premise: Ino gets into a fight with her parents and runs away from home. She decides to crash at Naruto's place for the time being, since he's the only one with a place of his own. Sakura, however, does not approve.

**

* * *

  
**

"Yaho!"

Naruto blinked once, then twice, trying to clear the grogginess from his vision as he stared at the overly energetic blonde at his front door. "Uh... Ino? It's one in the morning."

"You're not six years old anymore, you know. You don't _have_ to go to sleep before midnight," she scowled as she kicked off her shoes and pushed past him before shutting the door behind her.

"I do have a mission scheduled at oh-three-hundred hours," Naruto grumbled as he tried to stifle a yawn. "That's in less than two hours if you haven't noticed already."

"Then just stay up until then," Ino retorted, flipping the living room lights on and inspecting the place. "It's not like an extra hour of sleep is going to really help you."

"Jeez, you're so unreasonable," he muttered making his way to the fridge to grab a can of carbonated coffee soda. "Why are you here anyway?"

"Hmm, I've decided to live here for the time being," she grinned, holding up her luggage for him to see. "You only have one bedroom though, so that might be a problem... I guess you'll be sleeping on the couch for a while."

"Wait... what?" Naruto grew a sweat drop. "This is _my_ house, you know."

"I know, so what?" she asked obliviously.

Naruto smacked his forehead and sighed. "Why aren't you at _your_ house?"

"I got into a fight with my parents," she explained curtly as she made her way to his bedroom. She then glanced at the bed for a moment before immediately removing the sheets, comforter, and pillows, leaving just the bare mattress. "Here you go. Couch."

Naruto just looked on with a dumbfounded expression on his face as Ino pulled out her own set of sheets and comforter from her luggage, transforming his beloved bed into a girly purple and pink atrocity before he could even manage to say a single word. "Wait! What do you think you're doing?!"

"I told you already, I'll be living here for a while," she rolled her eyes. She then plopped down on the bed to test it out and then grinned when she found that it was unlike anything she had ever felt. "Is this a memory foam mattress? Wow, I'm going to enjoy sleeping here."

"That's _my_ bed! It still has eight monthly payments left on it!" he whined. "And I wanted Sakura-chan to be the only girl to sleep on it!"

"Oh, c'mon, you're going to force a girl to sleep on the couch?" she frowned. "What would Forehead Girl think of such un-gentlemanly behavior?"

"Then why don't you go sleep at Sakura-chan's place? She has a big house! I'm sure she has a guest room!" Naruto insisted, reluctant to give up his bed. "Or Hinata's place! She probably has a million guest rooms!"

"I told you, I got into a fight with my parents!" Ino argued. "Sakura's parents would immediately rat me out to my parents! I'd end up just getting dragged back home!"

Naruto groaned, slapping his forehead in exasperation. "Is it really that bad?"

Ino's face fell a little before nodding weakly. "I don't want to go back home..."

Naruto then let out a long sigh before turning around to leave. "Fine... but you'd better sort things out fast."

Ino watched with gratefulness in her eyes as Naruto closed the door, leaving her some privacy. "Thanks... Naruto..."

**

* * *

  
**

"Oi, Shikamaru, do something about that girlfriend of yours," Naruto grumbled as they hid themselves in the trees at the three-way border dividing Fire Country, Rain Country, and Grass Country.

"I don't have one, so I really don't know what you're talking about," Shikamaru replied nonchalantly, still scanning the area through a pair of binoculars.

"Ino, damn it, I'm talking about Ino," Naruto muttered, sleepily leaning against the trunk of the tree they were hiding in.

"Is there a problem?"

"She's sleeping in my bed at this very moment," Naruto sighed in annoyance, cracking open yet another can of coffee soda. "I'd say that's a very big problem."

Shikamaru twitched a little at the thought of Ino sleeping in Naruto's bed and put the binoculars down for a moment. "Was she really drunk and couldn't make it home or something?" That was really the only possibly scenario he could think of that didn't involve Ino being naked.

"We're minors and that's the only scenario you could think of?" Naruto groaned, slapping himself on the forehead for what seemed like the millionth time in the past few hours. "We're SIXTEEN for crying out loud!"

"Hey, I put that into account. She wouldn't want any parents knowing that she was drinking, so logically you're the only one she can turn to," Shikamaru huffed in his defense. It was actually quite a sound deduction, if he did say so himself. "So? If that's not it, then what happened?"

"She got into a fight with her parents and ran away," Naruto explained, finishing the rest of the coffee before shredding the empty coffee can into oblivion with an impromptu rasengan.

"From what I've seen, she has a pretty good relationship with her parents, so she'll probably be out of your hair before too long," Shikamaru assured, though he wasn't too sure if he was assuring himself or Naruto. Not wanting to think about it too much, he went back to scanning the landscape through his binoculars.

"Anything?" Naruto asked, not attempting at all to hide his irritation. "Those damn grass ninja are behind schedule."

"Yeah, I see the caravan now, but they're still far off," Shikamaru replied.

"Damn, they're slow," Naruto grumbled, looking through his own pair of binoculars. "At this rate, it'll take them days to cross over into River Country."

"Why are you complaining? At least you don't have to deal with Ino," Shikamaru pointed out, relaxing now that their target's location was confirmed.

"That's true," Naruto nodded, but then a thought struck him. "Hey, wait, then Ino should've come on this mission instead. That way she could get away from her parents for a couple days AND be out of my hair."

"An overly emotional Ino would be a liability on this mission," Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Though, I doubt that you're much of an upgrade."

"Hey, I can do stealth," Naruto shot back, miffed at the implication. He then proceeded to transform himself into a vigilant peregrine falcon before taking off towards the clouds. "Besides, all we're doing is keeping an eye on them, so that no funny business goes on while they're crossing over to River Country, right? What's the big deal?"

"Hmm... so you've mastered the henge no jutsu to the point where you can fly," Shikamaru murmured in subdued astonishment.

"Transforming a working pair of wings is child's play compared to transforming a realistic pair of D-cup breasts," Naruto retorted, referring to his infamous trademark perverted ninjutsu.

Shikamaru watched as Naruto climbed higher and higher towards the heavens as falcons usually do and found that he actually did find himself longing to fly amongst the clouds that he loved so much as well. "Might as well," he shrugged, throwing caution to the wind. "Henge!"

Unlike Naruto, Shikamaru had chosen to transform into a sparrowhawk with its light weight and broader wings. The falcon form that Naruto had chosen was heavier and had very narrow wings best suited for short bursts of breakneck speed rather than actually soaring, but that suited Naruto just fine with his endless supply of stamina.

Naruto watched from high above with solemn eyes as Shikamaru uselessly flapped his wings. '_Like the mangekyou sharingan, there's something you need to do before you can learn how to fly... and, Shikamaru, I hope you're never unfortunate enough to fulfill that requirement... you don't want to end up like me_...'

**

* * *

  
**

"Sakura? Oh, I've been looking for you."

"Um, is there something I can do for you, Yamanaka-san?" she asked politely.

"Have you spoken with Ino lately?" he asked in a weary voice.

Sakura frowned for a moment. "Not lately, no," she shook her head. "Why? Is something the matter?"

Inoichi let out a long sigh before shaking his head. "It's nothing."

"Um... okay..."

**

* * *

  
**

"She's still here?" Naruto groaned, noticing that the lights in his apartment were on. He sighed as he opened the door, but was almost shocked speechless at what he saw when he stepped inside. "Wh-wh-wh-what happened here?!" he sputtered.

"Oh, welcome home, honey!" Ino grinned jokingly as she turned the stove down to a low heat and ushered Naruto inside. "What do you think?"

Naruto blinked, rubbed his eyes, and then blinked again. Ino was wearing a frilly purple apron and had a spatula in her hand, completely looking the part of a loving housewife. But that wasn't the strangest part. His apartment was _clean_. No, more than clean. She had even rearranged the furniture and changed the lighting. It looked like something out of a home furnishings catalog. He probably should have expected as much from a florist's daughter.

"I'm glad you like it," she giggled, appreciating his speechlessness. "Dinner will be ready in a few minutes, so get yourself cleaned up."

Naruto, still flabbergasted, could only nod dumbly.

"Great!" she grinned and then went back to getting the food ready.

By the time Naruto had changed into some clean clothes and washed up a little, Ino had just finished setting up the table. Still in disbelief, he kept staring at the beautiful meal, afraid that if blinked, it would all disappear like a dream. It was just a simple and typical meal of tonkatsu, miso, and some pickled vegetables, but it was something that was so completely alien to him.

"Hurry up and sit down, idiot," Ino laughed, proud that she had managed to render Konoha's infamous chatterbox speechless.

"I... I just need a sec," he murmured quickly as he stepped out onto the balcony.

"Hey, wait, you're not mad, are you?" she asked worriedly, following him out into the cool night air. Then she noticed it. "Are you... are you crying?"

"I'm not crying," he grumbled, turning away and wiping away at his face with his sleeve.

Ino smiled a little as she glanced at the dinner table that she had set, her heart swelling with pride. It had been a while since something she had done had made someone else really happy. She had almost forgotten that Naruto had been an orphan; he had probably never eaten a homemade dinner with someone else before. There was just something special about a homemade meal that a restaurant could never match.

"C'mon, you big softie, let's go inside and eat," she laughed, ushering him inside.

As they sat down at the table together, Naruto burst out into one of the biggest grins ever. "Thanks a lot, Ino."

**

* * *

  
**

"Whoa! Sakura! Watch out! Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!"

Sakura's eyes widened in disbelief as a scruffy sparrowhawk came careening in towards her. "OW!"

By now Shikamaru had transformed back and they were both sprawled out on the middle of the street. "Ow... sorry about that..."

"Watch where you're going!" Sakura groaned, feeling dizzy from the impact.

"Birds crash into billboards all the time," Shikamaru grumbled, dusting himself off.

"What's that supposed to mean?! My forehead is NOT that big!" she growled, completely incensed by the implication. "What the hell were you doing anyway?!"

"Just trying to use the henge no jutsu to fly," he muttered, knowing how ridiculous that would sound to any competent ninja.

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. "Did... did Naruto teach you?"

"Well... not really... he actually seemed to regret even showing me the technique in the first place," Shikamaru replied, scratching the back of his head in exasperation.

Sakura's shoulders slumped as she let out a deep sigh. "Naruto... he only ever uses that technique to fly when he's really frustrated about something..."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. That would explain why he had never seen Naruto transform into a bird and fly before despite knowing the guy for years. And Naruto had seemed pretty frustrated during the extent of their mission, probably because of Ino taking over his apartment.

"Did he... did he say anything... anything about me?" she asked apprehensively.

"About you?" Shikamaru blinked in surprise. Had the two of them gotten into a fight before the mission? "Not that I know of..."

"Oh... okay," she nodded. "Well... I'd better go talk to him. See you later, Shikamaru."

"Ah, wait!" But she was already gone before he could warn her about the fact that Ino was staying at Naruto's place. "Ah, damn... I hope Naruto has life insurance..."

**

* * *

  
**

"You know... you could wait till I'm done," Naruto deadpanned with his toothbrush still in his mouth.

"Don't be such an emo loner... that went out of style three years ago," she scoffed mockingly, squeezing out some toothpaste onto her toothbrush. She wasn't even fazed by the fact that Naruto was only wearing a pair of boxers and was fresh out of the shower. The fact that she was only wearing a pair of panties and an oversized t-shirt didn't really seem to bother her either.

"How is wanting bathroom privacy considered being an _emo loner_?"

"You want to be alone, therefore _loner_, duh," she answered matter-of-factly. "You always have been a little slow."

"Then don't complain when if I need to take a leak while you're in the bath or something," he replied, rolling his eyes. Naruto's apartment was small, so he had one of those western style bathrooms where the sink, toilet, and shower were all in one room. Those kinds of bathrooms were still somewhat of an oddity in Konoha, where it was standard to have the bath separate from the toilet and sinks.

"That actually sounds kind of kinky," she giggled through a mouthful of suds.

Naruto just let out a sigh and turned around.

Ino blinked for a moment as she stared at Naruto's broad shoulders before realizing why he had turned around. "Don't tell me that sharing the bathroom with girl is turning you on!" she laughed teasingly.

"You could put on some pants, you know," he grumbled.

"Don't be embarrassed! Let me see!" she giggled, trying to sneak a peek at the tent in his boxers.

"You know, normally, a girl would be shrieking her head off in this kind situation," he pointed out before rinsing the toothpaste out of his mouth.

"KYAAAAAAA!!!!"

"Yeah, like that," Naruto nodded in satisfaction.

"That wasn't me," Ino replied.

When they both turned around, they saw Sakura's expression of shock and horror. It had only taken a fraction of a second, but Naruto could swear that he saw the look of shock on her face gradually transform into tears of anguish in slow motion. "I... I'm sorry to interrupt! I hope you two have a happy life together!" she stammered before fleeing the scene.

"Wait! Sakura-chan! It's not like that!" Naruto cried, chasing after her. Luckily he managed to catch her before she got out the front door. But unluckily, he was still only in his boxers.

"KYAAAAAA!!!" Sakura shrieked again when she saw that he was still only in his underwear.

"Wow, you're really good at that," he winced, sticking a finger into his ear with his free hand.

"Let me go, you pervert! I don't want to be here while you and Ino are doing _THAT _kind of disgusting stuff!" she screamed, shutting her eyes closed as hard as she could.

"Oh, please, get a grip, Forehead Girl," Ino rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I could have been naked in there and Naruto would have _still_ tried to kick me out of the bathroom."

"It's all just been a misunderstanding!" Naruto added, nodding vigorously. "Ino's just staying here until she clears things up with her parents!"

Sakura then remembered her encounter with Ino's father earlier. "Honest?" she asked, clearly calming down but still suspicious.

"Honest," Naruto said, still nodding like a bobblehead doll.

"You could've just stayed at my place, Ino... we do have a guestroom," Sakura pointed out with a frown.

"If your mom found out that I ran away from home, she'd send me right back," Ino retorted. "Besides, I like it here. Naruto has a comfy bed."

"Y-y-you two are _sleeping_ together?!" Sakura stammered, jaw dropping to the floor.

"No!" Naruto exclaimed immediately, hoping to nip any misunderstanding in the bud as quickly as possible. "I sleep on the couch! And I've been away on a mission for the past couple nights with Shikamaru! I swear! Shikamaru can vouch for me!"

"Oh, Naruto, you're so cute when you're desperate," Ino giggled, ruffling his hair playfully before returning to the bathroom to finish washing up for the night.

"I still don't approve," Sakura scowled, watching in contempt as Ino swayed her panty-clad bottom around all the way down the hallway.

"At least she's not wearing a thong," Naruto shrugged sheepishly.

Sakura just shot him a dirty look before storming out of the apartment and slamming the front door behind her, causing Naruto to wince. "Damn it, Ino... why did it have to turn out this way?" he grumbled.

Then he glanced down at the front of his boxers and frowned. "And you. I'm very disappointed in you. You're only supposed to react to Sakura-chan."

"Are you talking to your penis?" Ino laughed.

"Go put on some pants!" Naruto demanded, pointing her in the direction of his room where she had all of her clothes.

"No, it's too hot," she pouted, plopping down on the couch and switching the TV on. It was a rerun of the _Icha Icha Paradise_ movie starring the princess of Snow Country.

Naruto just sighed in defeat, opening up the living room closet, where Ino had relocated all of his clothes from the bedroom closet, and grabbed a baggy pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

"You're not going to ask about my parents?" she asked, still not taking her eyes off the television screen as he took a seat on the floor and leaned backwards against the couch.

"I'll ask when you feel like talking about it," he shrugged.

Ino blinked, and then smiled a little as she twirled her finger around his golden hair. "I may be here for a while," she murmured.

"You're gonna have to pay rent," he replied.

"Does Sakura have to pay rent too?" she asked.

"Why would Sakura-chan pay rent?"

"Because I think she's planning on moving in," she chuckled, having noticed Sakura march up to the front door through the window.

And, on cue, there was a knock on the door. Though, it sounded more like she was furiously pounding away at the poor door with her monstrous strength. "Ah, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, opening the door for her with a confused expression on his face. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm moving in, of course!" Sakura exclaimed, kicking off her shoes and setting her luggage down. "I will not allow you two to give into lewd and indecent temptations! Not on my watch!"

"I think your presence here _increases_ the chances of something lewd and indecent happening," Ino pointed out sarcastically.

"Ino, shut your trap and put some pants on!" Sakura snapped.

"But it's hot," Ino whined, not bothering to move from her spot on the couch. "You know me... I always lounge around the house in my underwear. Why should I change my habits now?"

"It's indecent!" Sakura insisted.

"Oh, loosen up," Ino rolled her eyes. "I know you want to be parading around in your panties too."

"I do not!"

"Sakura-chan, are you really going to move in?" Naruto asked, cutting into the argument. "This is a pretty small apartment if you haven't noticed already."

"I'll just share the bed with Ino," Sakura replied, completely serious about keeping an eye on them.

"I don't mind, let her stay," Ino shrugged, still half-watching the movie that was on.

Naruto sighed and threw his arms up in defeat. "Fine... nobody here listens to anything I say anyway."

**

* * *

  
**

"Sakura-chan? Oh, there you are," Naruto remarked when he found Sakura up on his roof later that night. He lived on the top floor of the apartment, so getting up on the roof wasn't too difficult. "Ino's about to go to sleep and she was wondering where you were, since you two will be sharing the bed and everything."

"Oh, okay, I'll be down soon," Sakura nodded.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked with a chuckle as he sat laid his jacket over her like a blanket. She had laid out a picnic blanket and was staring up at the stars, kind of like how Shikamaru would always gaze up at the clouds. "There's Orihime and Hikoboshi," he grinned, pointing out two particularly bright stars that were separated by the milky way, two lovers on opposite sides of the celestial river.

"You know stuff about stars?" Sakura asked in surprise. The two stars Orihime and Hikoboshi were well-known, there was even a summer festival dedicated to them after all, but not everybody could actually look up at the night sky and locate them amongst that sea of millions of other stars.

"Of course," he laughed. "We slept under the stars most of the time during the three-year training journey because Ero-sennin was too cheap to pay for an inn. So, yeah... I guess I kind of know the night sky like the back of my hand. Is there any particular star you're looking for? Maybe I can help."

"I don't think what I'm looking for is something that can be found," she replied with a smile. "It's something that you can only wait and hope for."

"A shooting star?"

She turned her head and stared at him with a curious gaze. He really was just full of surprises. "Yeah..."

"Do you do this every night?" he asked.

"Yeah, kind of," she replied with a sheepish laugh. "I've never seen one though."

"Really?"

"Well... there was one time a little while after you left Konoha for three years... I was on my way home from work at the hospital... I just happened to look up at the sky and there it was," she said with a soft smile. "It was a beautiful bright streak across the sky... it was only for a split second, but I was just so stunned by it..."

"First times are usually like that," he chuckled, finding this side of Sakura to be quite cute as well. She was always so mature, so grown up... she was already a doctor of all things... so it was refreshing to find that even she could have such a childish reaction of awe and wonderment about something as simple as a shooting star.

"But... as I stood there... I started wondering to myself if I had really seen that shooting star or not... maybe I had just imagined it... a hallucination brought on by the end of a sleepless forty-eight-hour shift at the hospital..." she explained in a soft voice. "And as more time passed, the more I doubted..."

"Sakura-chan..."

"I think that was when I finally got over Sasuke-kun though," she chuckled. "That shooting star reminded me of my love for Sasuke-kun... it was beautiful, but it only lasted for an incredibly short transient amount of time... it had been so short that I began to doubt that it had ever really happened... maybe I hadn't really loved Sasuke-kun after all... maybe it was like that shooting star that I had never actually seen..."

"So since then... you've waited for a shooting star every night?" he asked softly.

"It's kind of dumb, but... yeah..."

"And in the three years since then... you haven't seen a single one?"

Sakura bit her lip before responding. "Yeah... three years..."

"You've waited a long time, haven't you, Sakura-chan?" he murmured.

"I can keep waiting," she shrugged.

Naruto then got up to his feet, grinning as he held out his hand. "Sorry to keep you waiting for so long, Sakura-chan... I'll show you the shooting stars that you've been waiting for," he promised, continuing to use shooting stars as an analogy for love.

Sakura blushed a little as she took his hand. "Is there a meteor shower soon that I don't know about?"

"No," Naruto shook his head. "But... like love... shooting stars aren't something you only have to wait for... you can create them..."

"H-h-how?" she asked in a bewildered voice.

He gave her a playful wink as he placed his finger to his lips. "That's a secret... just wait a little more, okay? Just a few days..."

**

* * *

  
**

"Good morning!"

Naruto winced as a sudden ray of morning sun burned into his retinas. There was Ino leaning over him to open the blinds that were behind the couch. Ino's thighs were right in his face, her delicious bare thighs first thing in the morning. "I don't think I'm going to need any coffee today..."

Ino gave him a weird look, taking her a moment before realizing what he was getting at. "Oh... too much stimulation for you first thing in the morning?" she teased, seductively running her hand up the entire length of her thigh before coming to a rest on her panty-clad hips.

"Go put some pants on," Naruto grumbled.

"I wish I got ten ryou every time someone told me that," she laughed before leaving to prepare breakfast. "And go wake Sakura up, will ya?"

"She's not up yet?" Naruto wondered, taking a peek into his bedroom to see Sakura sleeping peacefully in her pink pajamas.

"The first time I slept on your bed, I was knocked out for sixteen hours," Ino called out from the kitchen.

Naruto smiled a little as he sat down on his bed, sinking into the plushy memory foam mattress. "Wake up, Sakura-chan," he whispered, brushing stray strands of hair out of her face.

"Hmmm... five more hours," she mumbled.

"Your just-woke-up voice is so incredibly cute," he laughed. It wouldn't be bad to wake up to that voice every single morning.

"What are you talking about?" she groaned, turning over onto her stomach and burying her face in her pillow. "You're creeping me out. Go away."

With Sakura now lying on her stomach, Naruto began kneading her back with his hands, causing her to moan into her pillow in delight. "The Old Hag has been really working you hard at the hospital, huh?"

"You don't know the half of it. And I don't remember giving you permission to touch me," she pointed out, but her complaints weren't very convincing considering that she was already purring like a kitten.

"This massage will get you energized for the day better than any cup of coffee," he assured, glad that she couldn't see the stupid grin that was plastered across his face. Being able to touch her like this gave him so much satisfaction.

"Liar... you just want to touch me," she accused, her voice still muffled by her pillow.

"May I?" he asked, the frank honesty in his voice surprising her a little.

She gave it a little thought and then replied, "Nothing below the waist, entire front side prohibited, sides are also off limits, calves and feet are exempted from all previous rules."

"Aw, but that leaves out all the juicy bits," he whined.

"Deal with it, pervert."

"Already found a loophole though," Naruto laughed, his hands immediately find their way up Sakura's nightshirt and onto the bare skin of her back, causing her to squeal.

"NARUTO!!!"

**

* * *

  
**

"What is he _doing_?"

"Falling," Naruto replied, wincing as he watched Shikamaru crash into a tree branch for the fiftieth time that day.

"I can see that, but _why_?" Chouji asked.

Naruto and Shikamaru both had the day off since they had just gotten back from a mission that had taken them away from Konoha for a few days. Chouji as well had the day off. "Maybe he's tired of looking _up_ at the clouds and wants to look _down_ at them for once," Naruto shrugged.

"That's Shikamaru for ya," Chouji chuckled, taking a seat next to Naruto to watch Shikamaru make a spectacle of himself. "Chips?"

"Got a soda on ya?" Naruto asked, grabbing a handful from the bag.

"Your favorite," Chouji grinned and handed him a cold can of coffee soda.

"Awesome."

"I thought the henge no jutsu was mostly for appearances," Chouji remarked, remembering some bits and pieces of Iruka's lectures from back in the academy. "It's too difficult to make a functional transformation, isn't it?"

"I can fly," Naruto shrugged offhandedly, as if it were the most normal thing in the world to be able to fly.

"You can?" Chouji asked quizzically.

"It's not too hard."

"So you're the reason Shikamaru wants to fly all of a sudden?" Chouji asked.

"I don't think so," Naruto shook his head. "I've never seen Shikamaru this stubborn before. Usually his laziness would have kicked in a long time ago and he would have given up. Maybe being able to fly was a childhood dream of his. Seeing me be able to do it must've given him hope or something."

"Do you think the reason he likes clouds so much is because he really wants to fly?" Chouji wondered out loud. He had never really questioned Shikamaru's love of clouds before. Cloud-watching had become such an integral part of Shikamaru that nobody ever wondered _why_ he liked clouds so much.

"He does seem to know a lot about birds too," Naruto shrugged. It had never occurred to him that different birds would specialize in different types of flight, but Shikamaru seemed fairly knowledgeable about it. Over the past few days, Naruto had seen Shikamaru transform into things ranging from hummingbirds to vultures.

"What kind of bird do you find it easiest to fly with?" Chouji asked.

"I've never used anything other than the _hayabusa_ (peregrine falcon) and the _hari o ama tsubame_ (spine-tailed swift) because they're the two fastest birds I could find," Naruto replied. "Flying was easy for me, so I never really needed to experiment around like Shikamaru."

"Then why doesn't Shikamaru try using those if it's so easy?" Chouji asked.

"Oh, he tried," Naruto smirked. "Dropped like a hammer when he tried the falcon form. He said that the falcon's wings are so narrow that it's hard to create any lift."

"Didn't know that flying was so complicated," Chouji sighed.

"It's not too hard once you get the hang of it," Naruto replied. "I don't think Shikamaru has what it takes though."

"Why's that? Is it his low chakra stamina?"

"It's more of a mental thing than physical," Naruto shrugged, not really knowing how to explain it further.

"Damn it, why is this so difficult?" Shikamaru groaned, finally too exhausted to continue. He sprawled out next to Chouji and took some of his soda to quench his thirst.

"Ne, Shikamaru... do you really want to reach the clouds that badly?" Chouji asked, watching the fluffy white cotton balls drift across the sky.

Shikamaru let out a long sigh and stretched out his arm, as if reaching up to pick a cloud right out of the sky. "Do you think if we fly high enough... we can reach heaven?"

Naruto and Chouji were both silent for a bit. Both of them knew full well the implication behind such a question. Perhaps Shikamaru missed Asuma much more than he let on. Or perhaps he had lost someone close when he had been a child.

"Well... I heard an old story while I was traveling the world with Ero-sennin," Naruto finally said as he lay down to watch the clouds as well. "A long time ago, people tried to reach heaven by building a giant tower."

"What happened?" Chouji asked curiously.

"Kami-sama got mad," Naruto shrugged. He didn't really believe in those old stories, but that wasn't really the point. It was just his way of telling Shikamaru that the living had no business with heaven until death.

And Shikamaru just frowned, regretting that he had ever said anything.

**

* * *

  
**

"Sakura! Look!"

"What now? I'm tired," Sakura complained as she shut the front door behind her. She was tired from having worked at the hospital all day and all she wanted to do now was just plop down on Naruto's criminally comfortable bed.

"Look what I found in Naruto's room while I was cleaning!" Ino said excitedly, holding up the magazine to Sakura's face.

"It's too close, can't see," Sakura deadpanned. Once she pushed Ino away to a comfortable distance, however, she gasped. "WHAT IS THIS?!"

"Did you know that Naruto had these kinds of interests?" Ino chuckled shrewdly.

Sakura's face went completely red as she snatched the magazine out of Ino's hands. It was just so completely lewd, indecent, and inappropriate, but for some reason she couldn't take her eyes off of it. "YURI MONTHLY?! He reads this garbage?!"

"Oh, don't pretend that you don't find it hot," Ino cackled as she suggestively snaked her arms around her childhood friend from behind, causing Sakura to squeal. "Do you think he'd be turned on by this?"

"Stop that!" Sakura moaned as she struggled to free herself, but she suddenly felt all the strength leave her legs as Ino playfully nibbled on her ear.

"Oh? Don't tell me that _you're_ turned on by this too, Sakura-chan," Ino teased, earning herself a quick conk to the head.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Sakura stammered, clearly flustered.

"But this is bad," Ino frowned as she flipped through the magazine.

"Why is it bad?" Sakura asked nervously.

"Because, Forehead Girl... all the girls in this magazine have really big boobs!" Ino declared. "Naruto must really like big ones!"

"So what?" Sakura huffed, suddenly feeling very self-conscious of her own figure.

"Don't you get it?" Ino asked in a grave and solemn tone.

"Wh-what?" Sakura stuttered with Ino's seriousness starting to make her worry.

"It means that Naruto is no longer interested in a flat-chested broad like you," Ino laughed, patting her pink-haired friend jokingly on the shoulders.

"THAT'S IT!" Sakura snapped in frustration, strangling the blonde in a suffocating headlock. "It was a mistake to take you seriously even for a second!"

"What the heck is going on here?" Naruto asked, surprised to come home to find a girl-on-girl brawl going on in his living room.

"Ah, uh, nothing!" Sakura laughed sheepishly, quickly hiding the magazine behind her back as she released Ino from her headlock.

"Naruto! Question!" Ino declared boldly, pointing a finger at the confused blond shinobi.

"Huh?"

"Do you like big boobs?" Ino asked bluntly, suggestively cupping her own pair with her hands. "You think boobs are the greatest, don't you? They're the best part of a woman, aren't they?"

Naruto's eyes widened in panic as he glanced over at Sakura, who refused to meet his gaze. Seeing the disappointed look on her face caused his mind to race. '_Oh shit, they must've found my secret stash of porn. Is Sakura-chan disappointed in me? Please don't be mad, Sakura-chan! Or is she sad because she thinks that I like big boobs? No, you've got it all wrong, Sakura-chan! I like your small boobs! Just because AV stars all have big boobs doesn't mean that I like big boobs! I really like your small ones, Sakura-chan! Wait, I can't tell her that! She'd be offended and she'd think I was a pervert! C'mon, think fast!_'

"So, what is your answer?" Ino demanded, taking the tone of a game show host. "Big boobs are the greatest, right?"

"I... uh... I think the face is more important?" he squeaked.

"Of course the face is important," Ino rolled her eyes. "But what _turns you on?_"

"Uh..."

"Big boobs, right?" she teased.

"I... I..." Naruto started sweating, his sharp mind already starting to fail him in this time of desperation. "I... I... THE NAPE OF THE NECK REALLY TURNS ME ON! THAT'S THE BEST PART OF A GIRL!!!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

There was a long silence as Sakura and Ino just stared blankly at him, trying to process this new piece of information. "Ah... the nape of the neck," Ino finally murmured in understanding.

"The nape of the neck?" Sakura wondered out loud, still confused.

'_Score! They bought it! I can't believe I managed to bullshit my way out of this!_' Naruto sighed in relief. "Well, if that's all, I'll go clean myself up before dinner," he said nervously before quickly making his escape. '_Whew... that was a close call..._'

Sakura was still trying to make heads or tails of what had just happened when she realized that the nape of Ino's neck was partially exposed due to the fact that she wore her hair in a high ponytail all the time. At this, Sakura frowned. "You slut."

Ino frowned and gave Sakura a questioning look. "What?"

"The nape of your neck," Sakura accused darkly. "Don't tell me you're trying to seduce Naruto."

When the realization hit her, Ino suddenly blushed as she quickly hid the back of her neck with her hand. "H-h-hey! It's not my fault! I never knew!"

When Naruto came out for dinner, he grew a sweatdrop when he saw that both girls were suddenly wearing turtleneck sweaters. '_They actually took me seriously?_'

**

* * *

  
**

After dinner, Sakura found herself alone in the kitchen, washing the dishes. Naruto had offered to help, but she had refused, since she felt that she should do her fair share of the chores around the house. She had honestly been surprised at what a great cook Ino turned out to be, so she felt a little useless, only being able to cook very simple things like tamagoyaki (rolled eggs). Washing the dishes was the least she could do.

'_Since when could Ino cook like that?_' Sakura frowned, shutting off the water as she finished up with the dishes.

She sighed as she went back to the bedroom and plopped down on the bed that she and Ino were sharing for the time being. She then blushed when she realized that the adult magazine that the two girls had found earlier was just splayed out beside her for all to see.

"Was Ino reading it?" Sakura wondered in disgust, but before she knew it, she was deeply engrossed in reading it as well. "Sh-she can stick something th-that b-big inside of her...?" she stammered softly as her face become unbearably hot.

"Enjoying yourself, Sakura?" Ino asked, wrapped in only a large bath towel as she had just finished her shower.

"N-N-No! I wasn't reading it!" Sakura stammered, quickly hiding the dirty magazine behind her back.

"I found the rest of his collection," Ino remarked, opening up the closet. She opened up what looked like the circuit breaker panel and revealed a secret compartment in the wall. "He has some really interesting magazines here. Come take a look!"

"No! I don't want to see such perverted things!" Sakura huffed, crossing her arms across her chest in defiance.

"Oh, c'mon, just a quick peek," Ino urged playfully as she started browsing through Naruto's collection.

Sakura bit her lip nervously as she mentally debated with herself. "Well... okay... just a small peek."

"Hey, take a look at this, this position looks pretty sexy, but I don't think it would be too comfortable," Ino giggled.

"Kyaah!" Sakura shrieked. So far, she had only seen the girl-on-girl stuff, so suddenly seeing a man and a woman together almost made her faint. It was the first time she had ever seen what intercourse looked like.

"Oh, you're so cute, Sakura," Ino laughed, continuing to flip through the pages.

"B-b-b-but!" Sakura sputtered unintelligibly.

"Ooh, I've never seen this kind of thing before!"

"KYAAAHH!!!"

"Hey, do you think Naruto would like this position, since it's easy to see the nape of the neck like this?"

"H-h-h-how would I know?!"

"Hmm... I think I'm starting to see why he thinks the nape of the neck is attractive. Look at this girl here with her hair pinned up in the back. For some reason, that is _really_ hot!"

"I still don't really get it..."

"Yeah... the nape of the neck is great and all, but this girl here has some incredible boobs. I'm actually getting pretty turned on, if you know what I mean."

"TOO MUCH INFORMATION!"

**

* * *

  
**

"Sakura-chan? Something wrong?" Naruto asked worriedly as he returned home from his evening run to see Sakura wearily splayed out on the couch.

"N-N-Naruto?" Sakura suddenly scrambled into an upright sitting position but refused to meet his gaze. After finally seeing what sex actually looked like, it was hard for her to look at Naruto without thinking about perverted thoughts. "N-n-nothing's wrong!" she squeaked. "Ino-pig just tires me out sometimes, that's all!" She couldn't tell him the real reason was that the adult magazines had gotten way too intense for her.

"What's with the ponytail?" he quipped as he pulled a chilled can of lemon-lime soda out of the fridge and popped it open.

"D-d-don't get the wrong idea or anything!" she sputtered in a flustered voice, trying her best to sound angry but failing miserably. "It's not like I did it specifically for you!"

Naruto blinked in confusion for a moment and then grew a sweat drop when he realized what she was getting at. '_They're still taking that nape of the neck thing seriously?_' he groaned.

Sakura quickly looked away in embarrassment but then silently screamed at herself when she realized that turning her head like that only exposed the nape of her neck to him even more. "H-h-how does it look?" she stammered nervously, her face turning completely red."W-w-well?" Sakura bit her lip apprehensively.

After getting a closer look, however, Naruto suddenly found himself entranced by the pale beauty that was the back of Sakura's neck. He especially found the hairline to be enticingly sexy. '_Whoa... I never realized, but... the nape of the neck really is incredible..._'

"D-d-don't stare too hard," Sakura stuttered, feeling very self-conscious as Naruto's lewd eyes bore down on her. "It's embarrassing..."

"S-s-sorry," Naruto stammered as it took all of his willpower to look away. "I... I really like it... Sakura-chan..."

"Oh..." Sakura timidly twiddled her thumbs.

Then there was a long awkward silence between the two as neither of them could think of anything else to say. Sakura herself didn't know why she was acting like such a lovesick idiot. All that porn that Ino had forced her to look at must've been messing with her mind. Yeah, that was probably it.

"So... um... you're not going up to the roof tonight to watch for shooting stars?" he asked, finally breaking the silence. He actually had expected to find her up on the roof, considering that it was something she had done every single night for the past three years.

Sakura blushed a little, not knowing whether Naruto was still using shooting stars as an analogy for love. "No... you said that you'd show them to me, so..."

Naruto grinned. "I'm still working out the details, but it'll be great, so look forward to it, yeah? Believe it!"

**

* * *

  
**

The next morning, Naruto was surprised to find that Sakura had decided to go with the ponytail again, except with a slight variation. She had clipped the tip of the ponytail back up with green hairclip to expose the nape of her neck even more. '_I think I'm developing a neck fetish_,' he groaned silently when he caught himself staring.

"M-m-morning, Sakura-chan... Ino," Naruto nodded.

"Morning," Sakura replied with a blush. She had tried to get Ino to cover up her neck, but the blonde had refused to let her hair down. So Sakura, not wanting to lose to Ino, had chosen to tie up her hair as well. She had experienced first hand the night before what power the nape of the neck had over Naruto, and she couldn't let Ino monopolize that power.

"Well, aren't you a lucky guy?" Ino giggled as she seductively lifted up her own ponytail to reveal the nape of her neck. It was an incredibly sexy sight considering that all she was wearing was an oversized shirt and a familiar pair of boxers, but Naruto tried his best not to react.

"Ino, please put some pants on," Naruto deadpanned as he sat down for breakfast.

"Boo, you're no fun if you only react to Sakura," Ino frowned, setting a bowl of rice, some miso soup, and fried fish in front of him.

"Wait? Is that my shirt? Hey! Those are my boxers!" Naruto gasped, finally realizing why those boxers looked so familiar.

"You're wearing Naruto's underwear?!" Sakura screeched. It wasn't uncommon for girls to wear boys' boxers nowadays, but she hadn't thought that Ino would go as far as to actually wear boxers that belonged to a boy.

"Please tell me you're wearing panties under those boxers!" Naruto groaned.

"Why would I wear panties underneath boxers?" Ino rolled her eyes as she sat down for breakfast as well.

"Ino, you're unbelievable!" Sakura accused.

"I forgot to do the laundry yesterday! Would rather have me walk around naked?" Ino retorted.

"Ugh! Whatever, you're impossible!" Sakura muttered, finishing up her breakfast. "I'm going to work, see you two later."

"Have a nice day!" Naruto said through a mouthful of rice as Sakura left through the front door.

"Shouldn't you get going too?" Ino asked, seeing that Naruto was taking his time with his breakfast.

"Nah, I have today off too," he shrugged. "I'll cook dinner today... since you've been doing all the cooking since you've moved in."

"If your idea of _cooking_ is boiling water for instant ramen, then no thanks," she laughed.

"Hey, I can cook too you know," he huffed. "Besides, don't you have any missions? It seems like you've been off for like a week now."

Ino flinched for a split second before putting her air of cheerfulness back up. "Don't sweat the small stuff," she grinned, waving him off.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Does it have to do with your parents?"

Ino paused for a moment before forcing another smile. "Let's... not talk about that..."

"You're gonna have to face your problems sooner or later," Naruto sighed, finishing up his breakfast and getting up to wash the dishes in the kitchen sink.

"I will... but until then, can I just be happy here with you and Sakura?" she asked softly as she surprised him by placing her hands on his shoulders and resting her cheek against his strong back.

Naruto stiffened at the sudden physical contact but quickly loosened up. "Not just until then... even afterwards, whenever you have problems, you can always come back here..."

"Hey, do you remember? You said that to me once before... that I could come here whenever I had problems," she chuckled, enjoying the warmth and safety she felt from being so close to him.

"Did I?" he laughed softly.

"You did," she nodded. "That's why I'm here now."

Naruto stopped scrubbing the dishes, just letting the water from the faucet continue flowing. When had he ever said such a thing? And to Ino of all people?

**

* * *

  
**

"Hey, Pops, do you know anybody that could use the henge to transform into a bird and actually fly?" Shikamaru asked lazily as he moved one of his shogi pieces.

"Yamanaka..."

"Besides her, I mean," Shikamaru quickly interjected.

Shikaku sighed, rubbing the back of his neck a little before making his move. "Is that what you've been up to the past few days? Coming home all bruised and beat up like that..."

"Naruto can do it," Shikamaru remarked, trying to predict what his dad was trying to accomplish by moving his king like that. Unlike Asuma, his dad made a whole lot of moves that just left him scratching his head.

"That's because _she_ taught it to him," Shikaku murmured, causing Shikamaru to drop a piece in mid-move. "Ouch, that one's gonna cost yah," he chuckled, capitalizing on the mistake.

Shikamaru stared hard at the shogi board, but his mind was elsewhere. If Naruto had been taught how to fly, then that would definitely explain why Naruto excelled so much at transformation, while being so terrible at every other academy technique. It was like Konohamaru. Shikamaru had taught at the academy for a while after becoming a chuunin, and transformation was the one technique Konohamaru had excelled at, while being terrible at most everything else. It was because Naruto had _taught_ it to him early on, the oiroke no jutsu. Could Naruto have been the same way?

"I'd recommend you to give up learning that technique," Shikaku advised solemnly, watching Shikamaru make one of his pieces retreat.

"Why's that?" Shikamaru asked with a frown as his father captured one of his pieces.

"The only people who have ever used the henge no jutsu to master flight are the people who have something to run away from," Shikaku replied gravely. "Only people so desperate to run away that taking to the sky is the only way they can get far away enough from whatever it is they're running from..."

**

* * *

  
**

"Wait, so who's cooking dinner today?" Sakura asked, flabbergasted to find Ino reading one of Naruto's adult magazines at the dining table when she came home from work at the hospital. "And put that away!"

"These have some very interesting articles, you know!" Ino protested, already having become brazen enough to read the dirty magazines out in the open. "And Naruto is cooking dinner."

"Welcome home, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said over the sizzling sounds coming from the skillet.

Sakura blinked in disbelief as Naruto skillfully tossed the stir-fry contents of the skillet up in the air, causing them to transiently catch on fire from the flying oil. And he was wearing an apron of all things. She had never seen this side of him before, and she had to admit that it was quite stunning.

"Go get yourself cleaned up and I'll have dinner ready real soon," Naruto grinned.

By the time Sakura had changed into something more comfortable, Naruto had already set the table. "Uwah, you made all this?" she gasped in surprise. Some of it were dishes she had never seen before, probably stuff he had picked up on his travels with Jiraiya.

"It looks edible," Ino remarked.

"Are you _still_ doubting my cooking?" Naruto sighed. "Go on, try it. It's not going to kill you."

Sakura, having worked up an appetite from working all day, couldn't fight the delicious aroma anymore and decided to just dig in. So she popped open a can of her favorite soda and took a bite of the grilled eel first, eel being a summer specialty, and found that it wasn't like anything she had tasted before. It was definitely unagi, but it was softer and tenderer than what was served at Konoha restaurants. "This is really good! How'd you get it to be soft like this?" she gasped, almost mewing in pleasure as the flavor propagated across her taste buds.

"In Fire Country, eel is usually just grilled because the quality of charcoal fire here is the best in the world. The charcoal adds a distinct smoky flavor, but it also makes the eel crispy. However, island countries like Sea Country steam the eel after a shorter grilling period in order to get rid of excess fat, so it comes out much softer," Naruto explained proudly.

"Hey, it is good!" Ino exclaimed after taking a tentative bite. "That decides it!"

"Decides what?"

"You're going to be my husband!" Ino grinned, giving him a big thumbs-up.

"WHAT?!" Sakura coughed, choking on her food.

"Please don't go making such decisions on your own," Naruto sighed as he patted Sakura on the back. "Are you okay, Sakura-chan?"

Ino slumped in her seat a little and allowed herself a lonely smile as she watched Naruto tend to Sakura, who was still recovering from her little choking incident. They looked good together, the way Naruto had his arm draped protectively around her, the way Sakura's slim frame fit perfectly in his arms, the way they smiled at each other, and the way they blushed awkwardly when they realized how close they were.

"Ino?"

She blinked in surprise as Naruto's voice brought her out of her train of thought. "Huh? What?"

"You okay?" he asked worriedly. "You were just spacing out for the longest time."

'_Oh, Naruto... you're too much of a sweetheart_...' She grinned a little and shook her head. "Nothing, I was just thinking about something, that's all."

"Ino-pig? Thinking? Bah, impossible," Sakura scoffed.

"At least all my thoughts aren't broadcasted on a billboard of a forehead," Ino retorted with a devilish smirk.

Naruto chuckled as the two girls continued throwing friendly jabs at each other all throughout dinner. But now that he knew what it felt like to live with others, he wasn't so sure he could go back to living alone.

**

* * *

  
**

"Hey, Forehead Girl," Ino quipped as the two of them got into bed later that night. The lamp on the nightstand was on her side, so she kept it on as Sakura snuggled in under the covers, admiring the way her pink hair gently flowed around her pretty face under the soft glow.

"What?" she asked, raising a quizzical eyebrow as Ino twirled a strand of pink hair around her finger. "Wait a minute... are you _still_ wearing Naruto's underwear?!"

Ino blinked for a moment in surprise before lifting up the covers. "Yup, still wearing them. They're comfy, you should try them. Besides, like I said, I haven't had a chance to do laundry, so I don't have a clean pair of panties to wear."

"Take them off immediately!" Sakura demanded.

Ino looked deep into Sakura's eyes, causing Sakura to suddenly fidget uncomfortably. Then she broke out into a comical grin. "Alright... I'll sleep in the nude if you do too."

"Just take them off, you pervert!" Sakura sighed as she forcefully yanked Naruto's boxers down Ino's slender legs and leaving her naked from the waist down. "I'll lend you a pair of my panties, so you'd better remember to do the laundry tomorrow." But then, as she was digging through her luggage, she froze when she realized that she was holding Naruto's underwear in her hands.

"Who's the pervert now?" Ino smirked, catching a blushing Sakura staring hard at the pair of boxers.

"Shut up, I don't want to hear that from the person who was wearing them in the first place," Sakura scowled, discreetly stuffing the boxers into her luggage before tossing a pair of her own panties at Ino's face.

"Ooh, Sakura's panties," Ino chortled as she slipped them on. "_Now_ I feel like a pervert."

Sakura just rolled her eyes as she got back into bed.

"Hey, did it ever occur to you that perhaps that I'm bisexual and that maybe all of this... Naruto, you, and me living under one roof... was all part of my diabolical genius plan to have two of my top dating prospects both in one place for easy pickings?" Ino asked with sly grin. "I mean, I _am_ wearing your panties."

Sakura merely stared at her with a blank look, unable to come up with a reply.

"You honestly never wondered if the reason I pick on you so much is because I have a crush on you?" Ino laughed, caressing Sakura's face gently with her hand. "Remember what I said to you when I first met you back when we were little kids? I said that you had a cute forehead and that you should show it off confidently... so now why would I tease you about your forehead if that were the case?"

Sakura was still too flabbergasted to say anything.

"What if showing you Naruto's stash of porn had just been part of my master plan to get you all horny for tonight?" Ino added with a devilish grin as she lightly traced her fingertip down to the dip in Sakura's collarbone.

"Y-y-you're joking... right?" Sakura finally managed to sputter.

"I know you like Naruto," Ino stated bluntly. "I don't know why you keep stalling... maybe it's because you don't realize your own feelings yet or perhaps you just don't want to be honest with yourself yet... but whatever the reason, each day that you stall is just an extra day for me to make you fall in love with me instead of that Naruto."

"But... about Naruto... I don't..." Sakura tried to protest but couldn't find her voice.

"Oh, don't get me wrong though... you, Sakura, may be my number one prospect, but if you can't be swayed to the yuri lesbian way, my number two prospect is conveniently living right here as well," Ino chuckled deviously. "And I'm sure Naruto will fall for my seductively feminine charms if I really try."

"S-s-seriously... you're kidding... right?" Sakura gulped nervously.

Ino merely smiled in response, a smile that caused a cold shiver to run up Sakura's spine.

"I... I'm going to go sleep out in the living room," Sakura stammered, hugging her pillow and promptly leaving.

"Mwahaha, I have the bed to myself now," Ino cackled evilly as she turned out the light. "And maybe that will convince the dumb Forehead Girl to finally make a move on that equally dumb Naruto."

**

* * *

  
**

When Ino woke up the next morning, she was surprised to find it already occupied since she was usually the first one up. "Didn't get much sleep?" she asked, seeing the weary expression on Naruto's face as he was shaving. "Don't tell me that you and Sakura actually slept together last night."

"No, I rolled out my old futon out on the living room floor for her, while I just took the couch as usual," he replied tiredly. "But still... with Sakura so close by, I was too nervous to sleep."

"You're such a cutie," Ino giggled, squeezing out some toothpaste.

"Did you two get into a fight last night?" he asked with a small frown. "Sakura-chan wouldn't tell me what was wrong. She looked like she was in a real shock."

"I just confessed to her that I was bisexual and that I had the hots for both her and you," she replied casually with a laugh. "I guess she was afraid that I'd touch her in inappropriate places while she slept."

"You probably just wanted the bed for yourself," Naruto muttered, rolling his eyes. "Stop yanking her chain all the time."

"I don't yank her chain all the time," she protested with an impish smile.

"You were wearing my boxers yesterday because you said that you had forgotten to do your laundry, but you're wearing panties now, aren't you?" Naruto pointed out, rolling his eyes again. "So stop yanking her chain so much."

"I wasn't lying; I really don't have any fresh panties to wear. These are Sakura's panties," she retorted, causing him to freeze. She then stepped back a little so that he could get a good look. "So? How do I look in Sakura's panties?"

"H-h-how would I know?" he muttered in a flustered voice, quickly looking away as he went back to concentrating on shaving.

"Mind if I use your razor?" she asked when he was done with it.

"For what? Shaving your legs?" he asked, raising a quizzical eyebrow. "Use Sakura-chan's."

Ino grinned as she picked up Sakura's pink razor and held it up close enough to his face for him to get a good whiff of it. "Did you know? This razor has touched all of Sakura's most private places. Does it smell like Sakura-_chan_?"

Naruto's face immediately paled; just the thought of Sakura shaving her bikini area was enough to cause his nose to rupture with blood. It had never occurred to him before that there had been such a perverted aspect to razors, but now, thanks to Ino, he would never look at razors the same way ever again.

"So after what I told her last night, I doubt she'd want a pervert like me to use her razor," she laughed as she held out her hand. "So let me use yours."

"Fine," he rolled his eyes again as he installed a new razor head cartridge before handing it over to her. "Knock yourself out."

"And unless you want to watch me shave _my_ most private places, hurry up and get out," she grinned, pushing him out the door and shutting it behind him.

"That girl's gonna be the death of me," he sighed as he made his way to the kitchen to start on breakfast.

"What's for breakfast?" Sakura murmured groggily, the sizzling of the skillet waking her up.

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

"Nah, it's just that I'm not used to sleeping on a futon," she replied as she sleepily tied up her hair into a casual bun. She did have to admit that was fun coming up with new ways to show off the nape of her neck to Naruto... a ponytail one day, then a hairclip the next, and now a bun.

"Do you have work today? It's Saturday," he pointed out, skillfully dicing up onions and bell peppers.

"Nah, I have the day off," she said as she reached into the fridge and popped open a coke.

"Soda first thing in the morning?" Naruto chuckled despite the fact that he himself was known to crack open a can of carbonated coffee soda in the mornings.

Ever since Sakura had moved in, half of the fridge had been solely dedicated to all kinds of coca-cola beverages... coke, diet coke, coke zero, coke c2, orange coke, cherry coke, vanilla coke... if it was something that could be bought at the market, most likely Sakura drank it. She had always been somewhat embarrassed by her love for carbonated beverages, but she wasn't really afraid to show Naruto these quirky and embarrassing sides of her that she tried to hide from other people... like Sasuke back in the day. Heck, she hadn't even brushed her teeth yet and here she was talking with him face to face. "Do you not like girls who are coke addicts?" she asked sheepishly.

Naruto just grinned as he held up his own opened beverage can.

"But that's coffee! That's different!" Sakura laughed, punching him playfully in the arm.

"Wrong, it's coffee soda," he corrected, handing her the can.

"Coffee soda? No wonder you're always so hyper, what with all that sugar AND caffeine running through your system," Sakura giggled, inspecting it as thoroughly as possible without actually drinking it.

"Try it," he offered with a casual shrug.

Sakura blinked for a moment and then stared hard at the opening of the can where Naruto's lips had just been a few moments before. She knew that it was immature to think of it as an indirect kiss, but it still got her heart skipping beats anyway.

"My mom really liked soda," he added with another shrug when he saw her hesitance. "Well, that's what I heard anyway."

"Really?" Sakura's ears perked up. Most of her friends generally avoided talking about personal things, so it made her happy whenever someone decided to open up to her and share some secret tidbit of information with her. Ino and Naruto were especially infuriating sometimes because they could be secretive without being obvious about it. It was their goofiness and general carefree attitude that made it easy for them to hide their problems from their friends. Kakashi had been that way too.

"Ero-sennin told me that my mom used to really like alcohol and was a great drinker. He told me some ridiculous stories about how he, baa-chan, and mom all used to just get completely smashed on the weekends and crash dad's office while he was busy with paperwork. They were usually drunk whenever they hung out, so Ero-sennin couldn't even remember her name half the time," he laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "But because of me... because she was pregnant with me... she had to give up the alcohol that she loved so much. Instead, I guess she switched to soda early on in the pregnancy and ended up liking it even more than alcohol. I heard she went through a six-pack of sprite a day when she was pregnant with me."

"I think _that's_ why you're so hyper all the time," Sakura giggled with a warm smile. It made her glad that Naruto was able to talk freely about Jiraiya and his parents with her. Naruto didn't usually talk much about the past. He was more of a future type of guy... always yelling about how he'll be Hokage someday... Hokage this and Hokage that.

"So to answer your question... yeah, I like it when a girl drinks soda," he grinned.

Sakura smiled shyly as a small blush crept up to her cheeks. "Well, if that's the case..." she trailed off as she meekly held his can of coffee soda to her lips. Naruto found it utterly fascinating how innocent, elegant, and seductive she looked with both her slender hands holding the can as if she were performing a tea ceremony with it. And then there was the way her soft lips tenderly caressed the moist metal rim, where his lips had once previously been... it was absolutely alluring. Judging his awed and speechless reaction with satisfaction, she finally took a graceful sip of the coffee soda.

"Um... hello? Earth to Naruto?" Sakura smirked playfully as she pointed out the fact that the eggs in the skillet were starting to burn.

"Aw, crap," Naruto scrambled to get the scalding hot skillet off the stove. "Wanna help out?" he asked with an earnest smile as he nodded over at the carton of fresh eggs once he had cleared the skillet of the burnt ones.

"Eggs are the one thing I _can_ do, so watch and be impressed," she grinned confidently as she washed her hands in the sink before cracking open a couple eggs into a measuring cup. She then added some milk before vigorously whisking the eggs.

"And now add these vegetables to the bacon bits that are already frying in the skillet," he instructed, handing her the cutting board full of diced onions, peppers, mushrooms, and potatoes.

"Stir fry?" she asked as she slid the vegetables into the skillet, causing a satisfying sizzling sound.

"Just make sure they don't burn," he laughed as Sakura tried tossing the contents of the skillet like she had seen Naruto do the other day.

"Hey, I'm pretty good at this," she grinned, her sparklingly happy expression distracting him long enough to nick himself as he was chopping up some green onions.

"Ouch!"

"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly as she turned down the heat before inspecting the cut on his finger.

"Yeah, it's nothing," he assured, already feeling it close up on its own.

Then she did something that he would have never expected from a medical ninja. She took his hand in hers and gingerly lifted it up to her mouth, gently wrapping her moist lips around the tip of his finger. Naruto's eyes widened in shock, his heart exponentially picking up the pace as he savored the feeling of the velvety softness of her tongue. Then, when she applied a gentle suction, he thought that he would blow a gasket right then and there.

"All better?" she asked with a small blush creeping up to her cheeks.

"Y-y-yeah," he stammered. "Thanks."

"Ah, whew, it didn't burn," she sighed in relief as she turned her attention back to the contents of the skillet.

"Green onions don't need much cooking, so add the eggs immediately afterwards," he said, handing her the cutting board full of finely diced scallions as he tried to get his heart rate back down to normal.

Sakura was still reeling from her own actions as well, so she just wordlessly did as he had instructed. She was so focused on cooking that she almost hadn't realized that he had wrapped his arms around her slim waist from behind. "N-N-Naruto..."

Naruto didn't say anything and instead planted a light kiss on the nape of her neck before resting his chin on her shoulder, pressing his cheek against hers. And, surprisingly, she didn't push him away, so they wordlessly continued cooking breakfast, enjoying the physical intimacy in silence.

**

* * *

  
**

"Hey, Pops, you haven't been going out on missions lately," Shikamaru pointed out as his lazy father came down for breakfast in his pajamas. "You taking the day off today too?"

"Well, Inoichi requested some time off, so Chouza and I haven't gotten called in for missions either... you know, since we're a team and everything," Shikaku shrugged.

"Does it have to do with Ino running away from home?" Shikamaru asked through a mouthful of toast.

"Swallow your food before you talk," his mother scolded sternly, going as far as conking him over the head.

"Ino ran away from home?" Shikaku raised an eyebrow. "News to me."

"Did something happen?" his mother asked worriedly.

"I heard she got into a fight with her folks and ran away a week ago, but that's all I know," Shikamaru replied. He didn't want to reveal the fact that he knew that she was staying at Naruto's just yet, not until he knew more about the situation. He had always assumed that it was no big deal, just a normal parent-daughter squabble that would blow over eventually, but he hadn't considered that the situation would be bad enough for her father to actually take time off from missions. "Do you know anything, Pops?"

"I have a hunch," Shikaku shrugged. "Wanna drop by the hospital with me later? I have a feeling Inoichi will be there."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "The hospital?"

**

* * *

  
**

"Hey, Ino... were you serious about all that stuff you said last night?" Sakura asked suddenly as the two of them washed the dishes after breakfast.

"Not _all_ of it," Ino chuckled.

"Could you be any more vague?" Sakura frowned, splashing with her a few suds. "If you really are bi and have feelings for me, I want you to be honest with me, so that I can be honest with you."

"You ignore and avoid dealing with Naruto's feelings for four years and now you want to be honest with yourself all of a sudden?" Ino rolled her eyes, causing Sakura to flush red in embarrassment and shame.

"I know... I want to change..." Sakura murmured. "Naruto always acts as if it doesn't bother him... he's so patient with me... but Shikamaru told me something a few days ago that really bothered me..."

"Shikamaru?" Ino frowned.

"During their mission, Shikamaru told me that Naruto had used the henge no jutsu to transform into a bird and fly... Naruto only ever does that when he's really frustrated and needs some space," Sakura sighed sadly. "I think maybe I might have been the cause of his frustrations this time... because I'm always stalling..."

"But..."

"I know that the academy teaches that it's impossible to fly using the henge no jutsu, but Naruto can do it," Sakura interrupted. "He tries to keep it a secret, but I've seen him do it... after Sasuke-kun ran away..."

"That's not it... I know he can do it," Ino replied solemnly. "I've seen him do it too."

"You have?" Sakura asked in surprise. "When?"

"It was a long time ago, when we were still little kids," Ino shook her head. "Long story..."

"Oh... but, anyway... this morning, when we were cooking breakfast... I sort of took a small step forward in finally giving him a reply to his feelings," Sakura said with a small smile. "So I'd like it if you were honest with me too."

Ino grinned as she smeared some suds across Sakura's nose. "I was just yanking your chain when I told you that I had a crush on you," she laughed. "I just wanted the bed to myself, that's all."

"I figured," Sakura rolled her eyes.

"So... you and Naruto, huh?" Ino smirked.

Sakura blushed. "Um... yeah..."

"I know that three's a crowd and everything, but do you mind if I continue staying here?" Ino asked.

"Oh, because of your parents? Of course, I don't mind," Sakura assured with a smile. "What kind of problems are you having with your parents anyway?"

Ino shrugged. "Long story."

**

* * *

  
**

"What are we doing in the east wing of the hospital?" Shikamaru asked with a frown, already getting a bad feeling about this. Everyone knew that the east wing of the hospital housed many terminal ill patients.

"You remember what happened ten years ago?" Shikaku asked despite the fact that he knew that Shikamaru would never forget.

"What about it?" Shikamaru frowned.

Before Shikaku could answer, they spotted Chouza and Chouji walking down the hallway from the opposite direction. "Chouza, I see you got worried about Inoichi too," Shikaku nodded solemnly.

"How couldn't I?" Chouza sighed.

"What's going on here?" Chouji asked, surprised to see Shikamaru.

"There's no easy way for us to explain this, but..." Chouza sighed as they all stopped outside a door that was labeled with the name Yamanaka. "Just see for yourselves..."

Shikamaru stared hard at the door handle, not sure if he wanted to know what was on the other side. His father had mentioned the incident ten years ago, but he couldn't make heads or tails how that would be at all relevant.

Finally, Chouji opened the door for them, revealing Ino's parents sitting solemnly at the patient's bedside. When they slowly stepped forward, they gasped when they saw who it was that was lying motionlessly in the bed... it was Ino.

"Ino?! What happened? What's wrong with her?" Chouji's eyes went wide with shock as he rushed to her side.

"But... but that's impossible..." Shikamaru stammered, stumbling backwards as the memories from what happened ten years ago rushed back to haunt him. "That's impossible! Ino... she... Naruto said... Naruto said that she... this is impossible!"

**

* * *

  
**

"Hey, Naruto, where's the laundry detergent?" Ino called out from the wash room.

"Hmm... right here," he replied, opening up the top cupboard and handing it to her. "Finally doing the laundry so that you can wear your own underwear?" At which Ino playfully stuck her tongue out at him.

"We're doing whites first, so do you have any that you need to wash?" Sakura asked.

"Nah, I just toss everything in together regardless of color, so I'll just do mine later," he shrugged.

"Men," Sakura rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

"By the way, Sakura-chan... it just occurred to me, but... are your parents really okay with you living here like this?" Naruto asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Um... well... about that..." Sakura let out a sheepish laugh.

"They don't know?" Naruto slapped his forehead.

"What'd you tell them then?" Ino laughed, loading up her laundry.

"I just kind of told them that I'd be staying at the hospital for a while," Sakura shrugged.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto sighed. "You shouldn't lie to your parents like that."

"But Ino's parents don't know that she's here either," Sakura protested.

"I'm a different case," Ino chuckled.

Naruto just sighed again, shaking his head as he left the two of them to do their laundry. "Do you think he's disappointed in me?" Sakura asked sadly, watching him go.

"Probably not as disappointed as he is with me," Ino remarked.

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it, genius," Ino rolled her eyes. "The guy has never known his parents, and yet here you are lying to yours and me running away from mine. How do you think that makes him feel?"

"Oh..." Sakura's shoulders slumped. "Maybe I should go back home then... huh?"

"No way! The three of us living together is too much fun," Ino laughed, slapping Sakura on the back. "Besides, I need your support."

"How can I support you if you won't even tell me what the problem you have with your parents is," Sakura frowned.

"Just you being here with me is enough support," Ino grinned, placing her hands on Sakura's shoulders.

"Fine..." Sakura sighed. "I'm going to talk to Naruto, so take care of my laundry for me, okay? And you'd better not sniff my worn panties or anything."

"Hey, I told you already, I'm totally straight!" Ino insisted.

"Riiiight," Sakura laughed, rolling her eyes before leaving to go find Naruto. "Hey, Naruto?"

Naruto looked up from the morning newspaper. "Yeah?"

"Um... if it's okay with you, I'd like to stay here for a little longer," she said, twiddling her fingers a little. "I'll tell my parents the truth of course, and hopefully they'll be okay with it too."

Naruto grinned and nodded a little. "Yeah, sure."

"Okay," Sakura sighed in relief. "I'll be right back then."

Naruto watched Sakura leave out the front door before getting up and returning to the wash room. "Hey, Ino... you should probably talk to your parents too."

"Naruto..." Ino sighed as she started up the washing machine. "It's not that simple..."

"It can be," Naruto replied simply.

Ino let out another deep sigh, not wanting to resort to this type of reasoning. "Naruto... you just wouldn't understand..."

"I don't have any parents now," Naruto interrupted in a soft voice. "But I used to and I do know what it's like to get into a fight with them."

Ino's eyes widened in surprise. "You...?"

"My mom died when I was five... but I had always pretended that I had been an orphan since birth, pretended that I had never known my parents... because I had been so ashamed by what a terrible son I had been," Naruto murmured, his eyes narrowing as he just stared off into space to avoid her gaze. "I had been so selfish... so terrible to her... so, after she had passed away, I had pretended for the longest time that she had never existed... it was less painful that way..."

"But... you were only five," Ino said comfortingly. "All kids are selfish at that age."

Naruto shook his head. "I had been selfish up to the very end... the last thing she saw before she passed away had been my selfishness..."

"Naruto..."

"We were very poor... and the other villagers hated us, though I didn't know why until much later," Naruto muttered with a sardonic chuckle. "But I was selfish... I didn't even understand how hard she had to work just to be able to feed me, but all I did was complain about how bad the food tasted... so, one day, when I demanded better food, she took out what little money she had and bought me ramen... she bought me a bowl, but nothing for herself... she told me that she wasn't hungry, but that was only because she wanted to me to eat all of it. That bowl of ramen had been the most delicious thing I had ever tasted, but I didn't even thank her... and then... the next morning... she just... didn't wake up..."

Ino gasped as her hand flew to her mouth, tears starting to well up in her eyes. "Oh my god... Naruto..."

"So... yeah... it would make me happy if you got along with your parents," he said with a sad smile before turning around to leave.

"Naruto..." Ino then collapsed to her knees, sobbing. "Mom... Dad..."

**

* * *

  
**

"Sakura? You're home!"

Sakura smiled as her mother engulfed her in a warm embrace. "Yeah, I'm home. Where's Dad?"

"He's working," her mother replied.

Sakura sighed. She wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not. Explaining herself would be much easier without her overprotective father around for sure though. "Mom... there's something I need to tell you..."

"What's that, dear?" she asked as she offered Sakura a cup of warm tea.

"I lied about working overnight at the hospital... I've been at Naruto's place for the past few days," Sakura blurted out, not knowing how else the spill the beans.

"I know," her mother laughed, sitting down at the table for tea as well.

"You do?" Sakura asked, stunned.

"Of course, I'm your mother," she chuckled. "I was just hoping that you'd eventually tell me the truth on your own and you didn't disappoint."

"Oh... sorry for lying," Sakura apologized sheepishly.

"And considering that you haven't brought back any of your luggage, I'm assuming that you plan on staying with him a while longer?" her mother asked teasingly.

"Um... is that okay?" Sakura asked hopefully.

"Is there a reason why it's so imperative that you live with him?" she laughed.

"Well... Ino is having some family problems, so she's crashing at his place too while she sorts things out, and I want to be there for her," Sakura explained.

"And?" her mother grinned shrewdly.

"And... I think... I just..." Sakura blushed. "I'm not really sure what my feelings are for Naruto yet, but... I want to find out..."

"Normally, sixteen-year-old girls go out on dates in order to accomplish that," her mother laughed. "Living with the boy is a little extreme, no?"

"Mom!" Sakura whined, completely embarrassed. "It's only until Ino gets things straightened out!"

"Okay, okay, I'll stop teasing you," she chuckled. "Thank you for being honest with me, Sakura... and I'm okay with it."

"Really?" Sakura brightened.

"Now, go on," her mother urged. "I'll talk to your father about it later."

"Thank you! I'll be back home before you know it!" Sakura grinned, giving her mom a big hug.

**

* * *

  
**

"Naruto! Open up!"

"Whoa, keep your pants on!" Naruto raised an eyebrow as Shikamaru violently pounded on the door. "What's up?"

"Is Ino here?" Shikamaru asked, panting and out of breath from running the entire way.

"Yeah," Naruto opened the door wider to reveal Ino lounging on the couch and watching TV.

"Hey, Shikamaru, what's up?" Ino smiled, waving but too lazy to get up from the couch.

"But... but... I just... I just got back from the hospital and..." Shikamaru sputtered in shock. "And you..."

Ino sighed, finally getting up and slipping on a pair of denim shorts. Parading around in her panties in front of Naruto and Sakura was one thing, but Shikamaru was a completely different story. "Naruto... could you give us a little privacy?"

Naruto gave her a blank look before realizing what it was that she wanted. "Wait... you want _me_ to leave?"

"Yes, Naruto, now go," Ino rolled her eyes, pushing him out the door before he could protest.

"What the hell was that all about?" Naruto wondered.

"Naruto?"

"Oh, Sakura-chan, you're back," he grinned. "How'd it go?"

"My mom was very understanding," Sakura nodded, smiling. "How about you? Are you going out somewhere?"

"Nah, Shikamaru came by, so Ino kicked me out," Naruto shrugged.

"What happened?"

"Beats me, but maybe her parents are using Shikamaru as a messenger," Naruto replied. "Anyway, since we can't go back inside, you wanna go pick up some stuff to cheer up Ino? Something tells me she might need it."

"Yeah, sure," Sakura nodded.

**

* * *

  
**

"So you know..." Ino sighed.

"Know what?! I have no idea what's going on here!" Shikamaru exclaimed, throwing his arms up in exasperation. "I saw you... lying unconscious in a hospital bed... and yet... you're HERE! What is going on, Ino?"

"You're a smart guy, do the math," Ino shrugged.

Shikamaru blinked, finally taking the time to just stop and think things through clearly. "You didn't..."

"Seems like you were able to put two and two together," Ino chuckled, seeing that things seemed to have finally clicked in that brilliant mind of his. "Please don't tell my parents that I'm here."

"But..."

"I still need some time before I can face them, okay?" she pleaded.

Shikamaru groaned as he rubbed his temples. "Why didn't you at least tell _me_?"

"You know why," she replied softly.

"No, I don't, Ino, so please enlighten me," he sighed, trying his best to keep his emotions in check.

"So I hear you're learning how to use the henge no jutsu to fly," she remarked, changing the subject. "How's that going for you?"

"Maybe you should be the one flying," Shikamaru muttered. "It's a technique that can only be mastered by someone who has something to run away from after all..."

"Nope, I already have a place to run away to," she smiled. "I don't need to fly anymore in order to run away."

"And Naruto's house is where you go when you want to run away?" Shikamaru asked incredulously.

"Well, yeah," Ino grinned, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "This place is my moon... my lunar sanctuary... a place where nothing on earth can hurt me..."

"Why?"

"Because... in exchange for my useless wings... he told me that he'd fly me here whenever I was in trouble... that's why..."

**

* * *

  
**

"_Ouch..."_

_"Hey... are you okay?"_

_"Yeah, I just fell out of that tree, that's all..."_

_"Were you trying to fly by transforming into a bird?"_

_"Y-yeah... it's stupid, I know, but..."_

_"Are you running away from something?"_

_"H-h-how did you know?"_

_"The lady who taught me how to fly was running away from something... and I was running away from something too..."_

_"C-c-could you teach me then?"_

_"Teach you how to run away? No, but I be your wings. I'll even fly you to the moon if you want, but only if you promise to eventually face whatever it is you're running from."_

_"Really?"_

_"Yeah... and whenever you're in trouble, you can always come back_..."

**

* * *

  
**

"I think I finally remembered..." Naruto frowned as Sakura was picking out sweets at the local bakery.

"Remembered what?" she asked.

"Why Ino is staying at my place," Naruto said, scratching his head. "It was when we were little kids... six years old, I think... she had climbed a tree and fell when she had unsuccessfully tried to transform into a sparrow and fly away."

"Why was she...?"

"She was running away from something... but she never told me what she was running from," he murmured. "And she asked me to teach her how to fly... but I refused and told her that, instead of teaching her how to fly, she could stay at my place whenever she had problems."

"So this isn't the first time that Ino has slept over at your place?" Sakura asked in disbelief.

"We were six years old, Sakura-chan," Naruto sighed. "And you don't seem at all surprised by the fact that I can fly..."

"Well, I've known for a while that you can fly. I do have my eye on you a lot more than you think, you know," she replied with a gentle smile. "And I know that you only go flying when something is really bothering you... so, as long as you're with me, I hope you won't ever have to."

"Yeah, of course," he grinned, surprised at how much Sakura knew about him.

"Now which one do you think would fatten Ino up the most?" she asked with a mischievous smirk, referring to the wide selection of delicious cakes.

**

* * *

  
**

"Ino, we're home!" Sakura announced cheerfully. "Shikamaru? You're still here?"

"I hope you don't mind, but I'll be staying here as well until Ino sorts things out," Shikamaru deadpanned as he helped Ino fold her laundry.

"Oh, thank god," Naruto let out a deep sigh of relief, causing Shikamaru to raise a questioning eyebrow. "Your presence here has convinced Ino to start wearing some pants around the house."

"Nah, once I get used to having him around, I'll be lounging around in my panties again in no time," Ino chortled as she got up. "Sakura, you fold your own laundry. I'm gonna start making dinner."

"Shikamaru, no offense, but it's sort of embarrassing folding my laundry in front of a guy, so..." Sakura trailed off and nodded her head towards the door.

"Oh, um, yeah, okay," Shikamaru stammered, getting up to his feet as well. "How did you manage to live with two girls?" he asked, shaking his head as he and Naruto stepped outside and went up to the roof, underneath his beloved clouds, the place he felt most relaxed.

"There were many times I thought I'd die of a heart attack," Naruto sighed.

"You have no idea what's going on between Ino and her parents, do you?" Shikamaru remarked. "And you still just let her stay here no questions asked?"

"Well... yeah, I did promise her after all," he shrugged. "Though, I do prod her every now and then about facing her problems."

"That promise..." Shikamaru sighed. "Ino told me the story... about what happened when you two were six years old... when she had tried to fly away... she never told you what she had been running away from back then, did she?"

"No questions asked," Naruto grinned sheepishly.

"If she hasn't told you, then it's probably not my place to tell you either," Shikamaru nodded. "Can I ask you something though? Why is it that only people who have something to run away from can learn how to fly? And why didn't you tell me that earlier? You could have saved me a lot of trouble by telling me that it was impossible for me."

"We're not birds, Shikamaru," Naruto laughed, but it was a laugh with a certain solemn edge about it. "Flying isn't something we can learn through practice or trial-and-error, either you get it or you don't. You could try it for years and never improve. It's something that just _clicks_ in your head when you're motivated or suicidal enough to literally toss yourself off a cliff and hope for the best. And usually the desperation and fear when running away from something does the trick. But the reason I didn't tell you... I guess... I really wanted to see you be able to fly motivated merely by your love for the clouds... not from running away."

"Well, my motives aren't that pure," Shikamaru chuckled softly. "And it seems like you learn a lot of stuff from jumping off cliffs

"For your information, Ero-sennin _threw_ me off a cliff when he taught me the kuchiyose no jutsu," Naruto rolled his eyes.

"That time... you could've just saved yourself by flying," Shikamaru pointed out. "Why didn't you? Why'd you gamble on using a technique that only got you tadpoles when you had a surefire flying technique up your sleeve?"

"Well... because..." Naruto smirked. "That would've been _running away_, wouldn't it?"

"Running away... right..." Shikamaru nodded with a small bitter smile. "When you learned to fly, what _were_ _you_ running from?"

Naruto laughed a little as he leaned back against the railing that circled the perimeter of the apartment rooftop. "A ghost," he replied. "I was running away from a ghost."

"A ghost?"

"My mother had just died... I was five..." Naruto explained with a sad smile as he lifted his eyes up to the heavens. He didn't really feel like talking about it twice in one day, so he just gave him the condensed version, cutting out most of the details. "And that was when I met _her_... the lady who taught me how to fly..."

"Who was she?"

"I don't know," Naruto shrugged. "Some lady... I always called her _'nee-chan_' so I don't remember her name. All I remember was that she had always seemed lonely and was always desperately running away from something..."

"Was she blonde?"

"Yeah... why?"

"Well, that was Ino's older sister..."

**

* * *

  
**

"_Listen, Shikamaru-kun... I need to go away for a little while now..."_

_"Where are you going, nee-chan?"_

_"To the promised place... beyond the clouds..."_

_"Can I come too?"_

_"No, you can't be like me. You mustn't ever run away. You have to take care of Ino for me, okay?_"

**

* * *

  
**

"So is there anything between you and Shikamaru?" Sakura asked curiously as she helped Ino make dinner. Seeing how good both Ino and Naruto were at cooking had made her feel like she should improve as well.

"Me and lazybones? Psh!" Ino scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Well, he did come all this way and is even going as far as staying here for your sake," Sakura pointed out. "Maybe he likes you."

"Nah, he's like a bothersome older brother. He's always reluctantly looking after me from the shadows even though he always complains how _troublesome_ it is," Ino laughed. "If he does have any interest in me, it's only because I look like my sister."

"Your sister?" Sakura frowned. This was the first time she had ever heard of this. She had always thought that Ino had been an only child.

"She passed away when I was six... before I met you, so..." Ino trailed off with a casual shrug. "She was like... Shikamaru's first ever crush though."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Sakura asked, feeling ashamed that she had never even known that her best friend used to have an older sister. It was actually worse than the time she had found out that Naruto actually hadn't been an orphan from birth and had lived with his mother for five years of his childhood.

"It's a dumb story," Ino replied in a slightly strained voice. "Besides, I had never really been all that close to her. Shikamaru had been closer to her than I had."

"I'm sorry..." Sakura murmured softly, her shoulders slumping. It sort of saddened her that, even though she and Ino were supposedly best friends, they always had trouble having anything remotely resembling a serious conversation.

"No big deal," Ino replied with a shrug, causing Sakura to sigh. Ino always avoided talking about anything personal like this. Despite how talkative Ino was, she always clammed up the moment Sakura wanted her to keep talking.

"You can talk to me whenever, you know... I'll listen," Sakura offered in a sincere voice. "It can't be good for you to just bottle everything inside."

"Listen, Sakura, I appreciate the offer, but there's nothing to talk about," Ino snapped in a more irritated tone than she had intended.

"Sorry..."

Ino let out an aggravated sigh. "No, I'm sorry for snapping at you. It was uncalled for. Look... if there is anybody that really needs a shoulder to cry on, it's Naruto, so maybe you should talk to him. He needs it more than I do."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Sakura asked, startled.

"He told me a sad story earlier today... about his mom... and there I was sobbing a river all over the wash room floor and he hadn't even shed a single tear," Ino murmured. "He needs you more than I do."

"Jeez, don't scare me like that," Sakura sighed in relief. "For a second there, I was scared that maybe he had some other problems that he wasn't telling me about."

Ino raised an eyebrow. "So you know already? Figures he'd tell you first..."

"Yeah, he told me that story about his last dinner with his mom... about how he was selfish to the very end," Sakura nodded. "But he's already come to terms with it... and maybe he's overcompensated a little too much by becoming such a selfless person... anyway, he's done crying about it."

"I see..."

"Maybe you should give it a shot," Sakura shrugged. "Opening up to others and having a good cry I mean..."

"Sakura... I..." Ino sighed, looking as if she really was contemplating it. "Forget it... it's no big deal."

Sakura's shoulders slumped again. "Don't say that it's no big deal... I know that you're going through some hard times. You don't have to go through it alone. I can help you bear the burden!"

"It's really no big deal, so just chill," Ino insisted, starting to sound annoyed.

"If it's such a big deal... then why are you borrowing someone else's body with your shintenshin no jutsu right now?" Sakura asked, her eyes narrowing. "Why would you go to such lengths to run away from your parents if it was really _no big deal_?"

Ino froze. "H-h-how'd you know?" she stammered in surprise.

"I'm a doctor, Ino, I've had my suspicions for a while now that you weren't using your own body," Sakura sighed. "Your real body is probably in the hospital, isn't it? Your parents probably think you're in a coma, don't they? Why would you do this to them? Isn't that kind of cruel?"

Ino frowned, her grip tightening around the kitchen knife she was using but vegetables. "They don't think I'm a coma..." she murmured in an almost inaudible whisper. "They think that I'm dying from the same disease that killed my sister..."

Sakura's eyes widened in shock. "Wh-what...?"

"I'm not really dying, so relax, jeez," Ino rolled her eyes. "I just... I just want them to remember what it felt like to lose her... that's all..."

"Why would you do such a thing to your parents?" Sakura demanded. She knew that Ino probably had a perfectly good reason, but it was still unbelievable.

"Because they've forgotten what she sacrificed her life for! That's why!" Ino roared angrily, slicing her knife hard right down the middle of a potato and causing both halves to fly in opposite directions.

Sakura was struck speechless by Ino's sudden outburst. Her entire body trembled as she watched Ino quietly seethe and curse her parents under her breath. She had never seen her so angry before.

"My sister... she was born with an irreversibly deteriorating chakra coils... the doctors said that it would take about ten years for her chakra coils to completely disintegrate and then her entire system would just shut down and die..." Ino muttered with bitterness and regret in her voice.

"Ino..."

"And my parents were young... they weren't ready for kids yet... my sister was just a _mistake_ to them... their marriage almost fell apart because they had to raise a daughter who would surely die at the age of ten," Ino seethed angrily. "I was their last ditch effort to save their marriage. They figured that if they could have a normal child, everything would be okay... but, no... when I was a little kid, all they did was fight.

"Then... about a year before she died, my sister ran away from home," she sighed. "She was only nine years old, so they could've easily found her and brought her back if they wanted, but they didn't want her back. She was just going to die in a year anyway. She lived alone in the forest outside the village walls, and I think that's when she met Shikamaru and Naruto on separate occasions. She showed them how to fly, but Naruto was the only one who could do it. Shikamaru was still too pure at the time... untainted by the cruelties of the world."

Sakura could feel tears welling up at her eyes. She was surrounded by people with tragic pasts, and the worst that she had to deal with as a child had been being teased about her forehead. It just wasn't fair. Why had her friends been cursed to bear such pain from such a young age and not her?

"Then the day when her body finally failed her came... it was Shikamaru that had carried her all the way to the hospital, sobbing his eyes out," Ino explained with a sad smile. "She was in the hospital for a few days... in and out of consciousness... barely hanging on by a thread. But my parents hadn't been there for her. It was just me and Shikamaru, a couple of snot-nosed six-year-old brats, to hear her last dying requests.

"She asked Shikamaru to bring her a bird... so he went out and a caught a small sparrow. Then, with the last of her strength, she performed the shintenshin no jutsu on the sparrow... and flew out the window up towards the clouds... then she died. I see that exact same sparrow around every now and then, but I know she's not in there anymore..."

"Ino... I'm so sorry..."

"Well... that's when I ran away too... Naruto found me and offered me a place to stay," Ino chuckled softly. "He talked me out of running away... gave me the courage to go back... and I did. And, when I returned home... that sparrow was there... and my parents... they had finally realized all the mistakes they had made... my sister's death had finally turned us into a real family."

"Your sister's sacrifice..."

"Yeah... lately, my parents have been fighting a lot... they toss around the threat of divorce so easily... it's like they forgot that sis's death was what finally brought us together as a family... I don't want her death to go to waste like that..." Ino murmured softly, her voice choking. "So I wanted them to remember..."

It wasn't until Sakura had gently engulfed her in a comforting embrace that Ino finally stopped holding back the tears. "There, there..." Sakura whispered soothingly.

"Are you happy now? I told you my dumb story and now I'm all snot-nosed," Ino sobbed, her voice muffled by Sakura's shoulder.

"I'll be happy once I see you happy," Sakura replied with a gentle smile.

The two girls just stood their in each others arms for a while. When Naruto and Shikamaru had come back inside, they were a little surprised to find them just standing there like that. "We'll take care of dinner," Naruto offered with a grin. "Shikamaru, can you cook?"

"I can follow orders," he shrugged as he gave Ino's shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"You take care of Ino, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, urging the two girls out of the kitchen. "We'll take over from here."

"Yeah, okay," Sakura nodded, taking Ino to sit on the living room couch where she continued to let loose the tears that she held in for so long.

Then, sniffling, Ino finally murmured, "Shizune says hi..."

Sakura nodded in understanding as she comfortingly stroked Ino's back. So it was Shizune's body that she was using. No wonder she was able to hold the shintenshin no jutsu for such a long period of time without being rejected. "Tell her I said hi too..."

"Okay..."

**

* * *

  
**

"Wow, what is this?" Sakura and Ino looked on in awe as the two boys led them up to the roof, where they had set up a candlelit dinner on the picnic blanket that Sakura usually used to watch for shooting stars.

"Just because we're guys doesn't mean that we can't be thoughtful and do something nice every once in a while," Naruto scoffed.

"Emphasis on _every once in a while_," Shikamaru added, causing the girls to giggle.

"It's lovely," Ino grinned happily. "Very fitting for my last dinner here."

"Your last dinner?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I've decided to go face my parents tomorrow and go back home," Ino nodded with a smile.

"That's good to hear," Naruto grinned, urging the girls to sit.

"Wow, this is just incredible," Sakura exclaimed, still awestruck. Naruto had really gone all out this time with the food. "It's like a dream... to have dinner under the stars like this," she grinned, looking up at the night sky that she had familiarized herself with over the course of the past three years. And then she saw it.

Naruto smiled a little when he noticed Sakura freeze, her eyes locked onto the night sky in disbelief. "You didn't imagine this time, Sakura-chan... you really saw it..."

"Saw what?" Ino asked as she and Shikamaru looked up as well.

And then, all of a sudden, shooting star after shooting star streaked across the usual tranquility of the night sky. "Oh my god... are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Sakura asked with growing excitement as she shook Naruto by the shoulders. "This is not a dream, right?"

"It's not a dream," Naruto chuckled, letting her use his legs as a pillow so that she could get a comfortable look at the incredible show high up in the sky.

"Wow! A meteor shower! This is my first time seeing a shooting star!" Ino exclaimed excitedly.

"Did you do this? How?" Sakura asked, her voice still painted with awe. With each star that rained down from the sky, she could feel her heart fill more and more with confidence that what she felt for Naruto was real... just like how the shooting stars that she was seeing were real. It was no longer that transient short-lived dream that she had when she had first thought she had seen a shooting star... this time, Naruto could create them for her whenever she wanted, just like how he was always there for her... there was nothing transient or short-lived about him.

"It wouldn't be as romantic if you knew," he laughed, tapping her playfully on the tip of her nose.

"Oh, c'mon, tell me," Sakura giggled, sort of wishing that he had leaned down and kissed her instead.

"I'll tell you some other time," he promised, still grinning like an idiot. It brought him so much pleasure to see Sakura so happy like this. "For now, just enjoy the show, yeah?"

"Wait, so you seriously _created_ this meteor shower?" Shikamaru asked in disbelief.

"Just chill and enjoy the show," Naruto laughed. "And eat up before the food gets cold."

"Oh, right, the food! It's such a dilemma when the stars are up there but the food is down here," Sakura giggled, sitting up and reaching for a pair of chopsticks.

"Then I'll feed you," Naruto grinned, leaning her body against his, so that she had a comfortable view of the stars without craning her neck, as he held some pickled vegetables to her lips.

"I can feed myself, you know," she pointed out with a slight blush but accepted his food nonetheless. She had to admit though that she really enjoyed the feeling of leaning back against him and using his strong figure for support. She could feel his warmth better like that.

"It's more fun this way," he smirked.

She laughed and held up some shrimp tempura to his lips in return. "You're right, it is more fun this way."

"They're so lovey-dovey right now that it's making me gag," Ino chuckled, shaking her head.

"You're just jealous," Shikamaru grinned, causing her to laugh.

"Whatever," she retorted, looking back up at the ongoing meteor shower with a warm smile on her face. "Hey, Shikamaru? Thanks..."

"I didn't do anything," he shrugged.

"No... you did a lot..."

**

* * *

  
**

That night, Sakura found herself sharing Naruto's room with Ino again, since Shikamaru and Naruto were sleeping out in the living room. She sat by the window and continued to admire the rain of stars that fell upon Konoha that night. The local astronomers and stargazers would definitely be having a heyday with this freak meteor shower.

"Did Naruto tell you how he managed to do that?" Ino asked, joining Sakura by the window and resting her chin upon a bed of soft pink hair.

"He said it's something he picked up on his travels," Sakura chuckled. "Apparently the Kumo ninja in Lightning Country have developed a magnetically-accelerated chakra rail gun that can fire projectiles at incredible velocity. They abandoned research on it though because it wasn't feasible as a weapon, since it always overheated and melted after just once shot. But Naruto got the idea to turn it into a vertical magnetic linear catapult to toss a massive bundle of about a hundred-thousand iron-coated rocks into space. Apparently, he was spending the last few days mastering the lightning element with kage bunshin just for that."

"Must be nice to have a boyfriend who would go through such trouble just to see you happy," Ino giggled.

"He's not my boyfriend," Sakura laughed.

"Yet," Ino added with a smirk.

"Yet," Sakura agreed with a small blush.

"You sure you don't want to spend the night with him?" Ino asked as she made her way to Naruto's incredibly comfortable bed. "This will probably be my last night here. And, unless you're a naughtier girl than I think you are, this might be your last night here for a while too."

"Despite what a shameless loudmouth he is, Naruto is surprisingly shy when it comes to these things, so we'll be taking things slow," Sakura smiled, turning out the lights before joining Ino in bed.

"Oh? So does that imply that you'd prefer to move fast?" Ino teased.

"Oh, shut it, you tramp," Sakura laughed. "Now go to sleep, you have a lot of things to settle tomorrow."

**

* * *

  
**

"You guys didn't have to come, you know," Ino pointed out as they made their way through the sterile halls of Konoha's main hospital that next day.

"Yeah? Okay, I guess I'll wait outside," Naruto grinned as he turned around to leave.

Sakura, however, grabbed him by the back of his jacket collar and dragged him along with them. "I know you hate hospitals, but you're still coming with us."

"I was just joking, Sakura-chan," he laughed sheepishly.

"You two are already acting like newlyweds," Ino laughed. Honestly, she had been very scared and apprehensive of the thought of finally facing her parents, but watching the antics of Naruto and Sakura lifted her spirits a little.

"They've _always_ acted like newlyweds," Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"We do not," Sakura frowned as she took Ino's slightly trembling hand. "Scared?"

"A little bit," Ino admitted sheepishly.

"Well, we're here for you," Sakura assured.

As they made their way down the hall, they began to hear voices. The east wing of the hospital, where terminally ill patients were held, was usually deathly quiet, so the muffled angry voices sent a ghostly chill down their spines.

And as they neared, they began to make out what it was that was being said. Ino froze when she realized that it was her parents' voices. They were arguing. It was normal for them to argue, she had gotten used to it, but this time, it sounded bad.

"Ino..." Sakura murmured worriedly, noticing Ino's face pale as she squeezed her hand tighter.

Ino's trembling became increasingly more violent as her parents continued to toss barbs back and forth. She squeezed her eyes shut and slammed her hands over her ears, the pain clearly etched across her face, but she could still hear them clearly. She could still hear all the hateful things being said, the hateful things that they said about each other and their failure as a family.

"I... I can't do this after all..." Ino sobbed, having heard enough. She then turned around and made a mad dash back the directions that they had come.

"Wait! Ino!" Sakura, Naruto, and Shikamaru chased after her, but had already lost her when they had turned a corner. "Where'd she go?!"

That's when Naruto felt a cool summer breeze against his face. "The window! Henge!" He immediately transformed into a peregrine falcon and flew out the window at an incredible speed when he saw a lone sparrow clumsily flying up towards the clouds.

"What are you waiting for?!" Sakura screamed, seeing Shikamaru's helpless expression. "Go after them!"

"But I can't fly!" Shikamaru protested in frustration, more angry at himself than anything else.

Sakura grabbed Shikamaru by his chuunin vest and began building momentum by spinning him around and around. "They say that flying by using the henge is one of the most difficult ninjutsu ever and that the fear and desperation felt when running away from something is the only motivation strong enough to drive someone to actually master it. But you know what? _Hope_ and _love_ are even stronger motivations! So fly!!!" With that, Sakura flung Shikamaru out the window with her monstrous strength. "Good luck..."

**

* * *

  
**

"Ino! Don't do this!" Naruto shouted, easily catching up to Ino's tiny and fragile sparrow form with his powerful falcon wings. "You're stronger than this! You don't have to run away!"

"It's hopeless! No matter what I do, they'll never be a family!" Ino cried. "So just leave me alone!"

"You have to at least try and talk to them!" Naruto insisted.

"No! I'm never going back!" she sobbed.

"Then at least come back with me, Sakura-chan, and Shikamaru... you can try again next time when you're stronger," he offered in a gentle voice.

"There won't be a next time! It's useless no matter what I do!" she wailed.

"But running away is not the answer! Your sister ran away and see how much pain that caused you and Shikamaru!" Naruto argued.

"Don't talk about my sister that way! Her sacrifice was what finally made our family whole again!" Ino screamed.

"But only for a short time! Your family is falling apart again, isn't it?! Running away is not the answer!" he insisted heatedly.

"Even if it's only for a short time, if my running away can bring my parents together again, then that's good enough!" Ino cried, feeling the pain of her tears split her heart apart.

"Don't take the easy way out, Ino! There's a more permanent solution to all of this, but you can't run away if you want to achieve that!" Naruto argued, but Ino had already made up her mind and was too far gone. "Please, Ino, don't make me do this," he murmured, letting out a sad sigh as he changed course, climbing higher and higher beyond the clouds instead. It was like Sasuke all over again all those years ago. Once again, he would have to resort to force to bring back a friend, but this time, he would not fail.

Ino craned her head and fearfully saw the ominous scythe-shaped wings of the peregrine falcon high up above, the soul reaper of the skies. She knew what the falcon was capable of from such altitude. With Naruto's natural recklessness and fearlessness, he could probably easily reach speeds of over six hundred kilometers per hour. At that speed, she would probably wake up in the hospital before she even realized that she had been hit in the first place.

"Naruto, don't! I'll talk to her!"

Naruto gazed downwards and was surprised to see a familiar scruffy silver-gray sparrowhawk desperately trying to catch up to Ino's sparrow form. "Shikamaru... you did it... you learned to fly without having to run away from something..."

"Ino! Running away isn't the only option!" Shikamaru shouted. "See? I can fly without having to run away from something, so you can solve your problems without having to run away either!"

Ino had to stop had hover in mid-flight as Shikamaru quickly overtook her and blocked her way. Honestly, she really was incredibly surprised that he really was able to fly. It actually did give her a glint of hope, but it wasn't enough. "This... these are two totally different things!" she finally sputtered.

"No, they're not! Everyone thought that flying was something that could only be achieved through running away, but that's not right! You think that bringing your parents together is something that can only be achieved by running away and disappearing from their lives? There's _always_ another option!" Shikamaru insisted.

"But..."

"You ran away for a week and see how that turned out? Your parents are fighting worse than ever!" he pointed out fiercely. "No good can come from running away! If there's anything I learned from your sister, it's that!"

"Shikamaru..."

"I may have admired your sister a lot... but I was only six years old... and, right now, I admire you even more... so please... come back..." he pleaded in a whisper, his soft voice almost taken away by the wind. "I'll be right there with you... not because I promised your sister that I would... but because I want to..."

"Shikamaru..." Ino murmured with a lost expression on her face. So many thoughts were going through her head that she just didn't know where to start. "You... you really are like a bothersome older brother..."

Shikamaru laughed a little. "Doesn't that mean that you at least have me for family?"

Ino had to smile at that. "Yeah... family..."

**

* * *

  
**

Sakura let out a deep sigh of relief when she saw a sparrowhawk and a sparrow escorted back to the hospital by a protective peregrine falcon. It no longer looked like the ominous soul reaper of the skies but, rather, a guardian angel.

"You're back!" she exclaimed as the three flew in through the open window and transformed back.

"Sorry for worrying you," Ino apologized with a sheepish smile as Sakura engulfed her in a tight embrace. "I'm done running away now."

"I'm glad..." Sakura nodded.

"Well... see you on the other side..." Ino said with a soft smile. "Release..."

The next thing she knew, Sakura was holding Shizune's limp unconscious body in her arms with Ino having released the shintenshin no jutsu. "Good luck, Ino..."

**

* * *

  
**

Ino slowly opened her groggy eyes, slightly disoriented from having held the shintenshin no jutsu for so long. She winced a little as she tried to get her body to sit up.

"Your daughter's awake and you don't even notice... too busy fighting..." Ino muttered bitterly, causing her parents to suddenly stop arguing with each other in shock.

"I'm not dying, so you don't have to look so surprised," Ino scowled. "I've just been out using the shintenshin no jutsu for the past week... I just... I just wanted you to think that I was dying from the same thing nee-chan was..."

"Do you know how worried we were?" her mother gasped.

"How could you do this to your own parents?!" her father exclaimed, angrily slapping Ino across the face.

"Because you two never stop fighting, that's why!" Ino snarled fiercely in response. "Did you already forget what nee-chan was running from? It was you two! Did you already forget what her death, her sacrifice, brought us? After she died, we were finally like a real family! You loved me! You loved each other! But now?! It's all falling apart! It's as if nee-chan's death was meaningless! I don't want that!"

By now Ino was crying uncontrollably, and her parents were struck speechless. "Ino..."

"I want things to go back to how they used to be... I want the three of us to be able to sit at the dinner table and eat sukiyaki together... I want to go fishing out at Lake Touya again... I want to watch music shows while folding laundry and talk about how terrible current Jpop singers are... I liked it when we did dumb things like that... because we did it together..." Ino sobbed.

Her parents uncomfortably shuffled their feet, feeling the weight of their shame pressing down on them. They then finally gave each other an awkward glance and shared an equally awkward smile.

"You really... want to go fishing again...?" Inoichi asked softly. "I thought you hated it."

"Idiot... I never hated it..."

**

* * *

  
**

"Yaho!"

Naruto blinked once, then twice, trying to clear the grogginess from his vision as he stared at the overly energetic blonde at his front door. There was something oddly familiar about this situation. "Uh... Ino? It's one in the morning."

"I know," she exclaimed cheerfully.

"I thought you said things were getting better with your parents," he remarked, still trying to shake the sleepiness out of his head as Ino, as usual, just barged into his apartment. "Did something happen?"

"Oh, things are going just fine with my parents," she grinned in reply. "They're still sort of awkward around each other, but they're getting better. I'm here for a different reason."

"And what's that?" Naruto asked, confused.

"This." Ino invaded Naruto's bedroom and returned while dragging a kicking and screaming Sakura out the front door with her. "I can't believe you two are already sleeping together."

"It's not what it looks like!" Sakura whined. "We're not doing anything indecent! It's just sleeping!"

"Then why are you wearing such sexy lingerie?" Ino shook her head as she stretched out the waistband of Sakura's pajama bottoms to take a quick peek.

"Kyaaaah! Don't look!"

"Well, her parents were worried, so I just came to take her back home," Ino cackled mercilessly as she handcuffed Sakura like a prisoner.

"You're evil!" Sakura sobbed.

"Tell it to the judge, sister!"

THE END

**

* * *

  
**

Author's notes: Despite the title, this oneshot really has nothing to do with that song made famous by Frank Sinatra and Shin Seiki Evangelion.


End file.
